1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns an active connector for a microcircuit card (or chip card), i.e., a connector for a chip card having a component for control of reading/writing operations of the card combined with a reading frame having a support and contact terminals with the chip card.
Reading frames for a chip card of the known type comprise contact terminals commonly called brush contacts designed to connect the contact areas of the card, for example, a memory card used in banking, public telephone, cellular telephone, and other applications, to an electronic device for processing the data contained in the chip.
In known systems, the application designer using chip cards must provide, on the one hand, electronic circuits for its application, as well as direct management devices for reading/writing the card, as a result of which there are increased constraints with regard to the size of this apparatus and there are additional costs relative to development time, testing and components used. Moreover, this design risks increasing connection lengths, which is unfavorable in terms of high frequency and susceptibility to electromagnetic disruptions and in terms of intrinsic radiation.
The increasing complexity of reading/writing management protocols of the card and the necessity of increasing the security of operations effected with the card, moreover, induce integrated-circuit manufacturers to produce components releasing the designer of electronic applications using chip cards from the management of reading/writing sequences or protocols of data on the card.
In patent application FR 95 01 271, the applicant describes the production of a connector for a chip card incorporating a control component whose input-output areas are interposed between certain connection terminals with the printed circuit of the electronic application and certain of the brush contacts by means of a connection network.